Johann Lurf – Pyramid Flare

Pyramid Flare is a work by Johann Lurf, commissioned by Sonic Acts for Vertical Cinema (2013).
Among the most mysterious man-made structures ever built, the pyramids still challenge scholars and provoke pseudo-scientific theories. Most architects have abandoned the idea of recreating a pyramid in modern times: first of all, it isn’t efficient as a building, and secondly, any content that might be assigned to it could hardly ever counteract its grandeur and ambition. So one could rightfully ask: Why build one today?
Pyramid Flare is the second in a series of experimental films about modern pyramids all over the globe. It was filmed in Prague and documents a pyramid-shaped building that is now mostly used as musical theatre. Filmed with a 35 mm camera turned on its side, Pyramid Flare is a five-minute exploration of basic cinematic elements – film formats, structure, movement, time.
The ‘pyramid series’ plays with these notions, each film takes a different approach to modern pyramid structures, and they all document the pyramid over the course of 24 hours. Structure is one of the keywords of the project, pointing to the mathematical structure of the pyramid and to the filmmaker’s approach to filming it. In Pyramid Flare the camera changes position every 20 minutes to capture the pyramid and the sun hovering above. It slowly circles the building, searching for the angles that keep the pyramid in the centre of the frame. Indeed, this conversation directs the film, leaving the director and his subjective point of view ‘out of the picture’. (Mirna Belina)
12 October 2013
Kontraste 2013
Krems, Austria
www.kontraste.sonicacts.com24 January 2014
International Film Festival Rotterdam
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com20, 21, 22 & 23 February 2014
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
www.stedelijk.nl7 & 8 November 2014
Leeds International Film Festival
Leeds, England
www.leedsfilm.com